Man jailed and fined €5,600 over ‘cash for cars’ signs

Offender had placed 87 signs at 28 junctions on dates between May and November 2015

Councils remove thousands of “cash for cars” signs from poles and other fixtures around Co Dublin each year.

A man received a three-month jail sentence and was fined more than €5,000 after illegally erecting “cash for cars” signs around Dublin.

Figures from the four Dublin local authorities have shown that councils remove thousands of “cash for cars” signs from poles and other fixtures around the county each year.

South Dublin County Council said as a result of the recent prosecution there had been very little or no posting of new “cash for cars” signs in Tallaght since earlier this year.

A management report issued at a recent Tallaght area committee stated: “People responsible for erecting ‘cash for cars’ signs are subject to a litter fine in the amount of €150 each.

“Fines have been issued in a limited number of cases, as regrettably in most of these cases fines cannot be formally served due to the difficulty in tracking the identity of those responsible for erecting such signage.

‘Very successful prosecution’

“However, very recently, gardaí from the Traffic Division, Dublin Castle, took a very successful prosecution against an individual at Blanchardstown Court.

“This case related to offences contrary to Section 71 of the Roads Act 1993, involving the illegal placing of 87 signs at 28 junctions on dates between May and November 2015.

“The perpetrator was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and fined €200 for each summons, totalling €5,600 in fines.”

The Garda said many of the individuals behind “cash for cars” signs were criminals.

“Sting operations offering unmarked police vehicles for sale were put in place to identify the culprits responsible for the signs, culminating in last month’s court appearance by the most prolific offender,” a spokesman said.

Graffiti scheme

Separately, South Dublin County Council has said a proposed “street art graffiti scheme” has run into difficulty after local artists failed to respond to calls to engage with the project.

The council’s litter management plan includes an objective to improve the aesthetic appearance of South Dublin by addressing the negative impact of graffiti. It had been proposed that a solution to this would be to provide a designated spot for graffiti.

“An initial project which proposed to engage local artists to create an image on a local sports container to establish if this would assist towards addressing the issue of graffiti proved difficult to advance as no responses to the call were received,” the council said.

“Following on from this outcome, we are currently working with Tallaght Community Arts (TCA) to establish if an alternative approach to the project would yield a better response. Already, as part of these early discussions, it has been established that this will require time.”